To Catch A Falling Star
by Whimsical Incantations
Summary: They had gone on a special mission together, only to find out it would be their last. Neji's final moments with the one person he only deemed his. TenNeji One-shot


**** **I Decided to write a story about Tenten and Neji in their last moments of life, and how it would be from Neji's POV. And of course these are not my characters., All thanks to the brilliance of the japanese inventor of Naruto!(I dont know his/her name:)

I hope you guys enjoy this! I was inspired to write something sad when I was listening to Amy Lee's version of "Sally's Song" from Tim Burton's, Nightmare Before Christmas :):)

The song below in the story, is Imaginary-by Evanescence. Rated M for one curse word.

I actually cried writing this! I got _really_ into it!

I hope you will too:) ******

Enjoy- _**StarlightMagic**_

***To Catch A Falling Star***

_She was his falling star, his companion, his absolute everything. She had been his right hand girl, through thick and thin, and was his walking dream._

Now as he lay looking at his one, best esteemed friend, nailed to a tree, unconscious, and a puddle of blood beneath her feet, his world shook and he questioned whether he would be sane for the rest of his life. The world seemed to spin around him and he too felt dizzy of the loss of blood, though that didn't stop him from looking up at her, just this one last time.

Her head lay limp, from her shoulders, as the rest of her body was sore, beaten and bruised. The only clothes that covered her lay in shreds around the soft once innocent meadow, due to unfailing amount of chakra damage and sharp shurikens tearing her skin away along with cloth. The sun had been long gone, and as nightfall began to take over he wished desperately that his breath would not yield to take its normal course. The smell of blood and flesh lingered in the air, making the stench unbearable.

The prodigy closed his eyes and tried to his full attempt to picture himself anywhere but here. His thoughts lingered to any past memories as he tried to envision her with life and all memories he had with the kunoichi.

…**...**

The day was absolutely sunny. And of course,the temperature _only_ deemed of eighty four, making both of the two ninjas perceptibly exhausted.

Which apparently, made _him_ wiped out, but not a certain kunoichi.

From his peripheral vision he saw her turn around and open her delicate mouth to ask yet another, interrogating question.

"Neji?"

"Yes Tenten."

A brief pause that lasted exactly twenty seconds.

"Wanna go back outside?"

The prodigy thought for a silent moment. Wasn't she tired enough already? Damn she has infamous strength! You kept your monotone self in check.

Smiling just a square inch, you prepared to give her the one response, which had been responsible of the continued annoyance of questions this entire evening.

"Hnn. No."

She sighed. Loudly! But you knew she would try again and again. Till you _finally_ budged.

…**...**

She would try for years after that in cracking his unbreakable shell, in only denting it, have a rebound, and trying again. But who's to blame Tenten? She was an artist no doubt. Not only a kunoichi, and well feared ninja, who soon proved to be by his side after years of unexplainable training, she had fared...well to be an artist in her midst as well, taking the Hyuuga through a whole other loop. The memory recollected itself as he remembered what had happened that cloudy afternoon.

He had gone back to the camping grounds one day after a long missions work. Three hard working days in a row, he had to sleep on the sodden, earth forest floor, depend on the waterfalls of the forest to supply him something to drink, and nonetheless, a bath also. Not to mention he stunk to high heaven. But the crazy two green guys in spandex smelled even worse for all he cared so he didn't think that badly of himself at all. I mean, after killing all those spy's, who would have thought wearing tight spandex around your skin wouldn't make you entirely uncomfortable? Lee's complaints along the entire way back home were extremely annoying at first, but in time, however, he learned to be immune from his bowl shaped headed friends voice. He couldn't block out Gai Sensei's voice though, so he had to be careful. Unless he wanted to do three hundred laps around the entire city of Konoha. You bet, he picked wisely.

Now you ask, where was Tenten in all of this? Of course she was always by his side in helping him and his other two companions in green spandex through all their trials and expeditions. It was just her stroke of bad luck however, that she happened to come down with the terrible flu right before she was able to go on that mission with the rest of her crew. Unfortunately, she had to stay back home and was ordered by Gai Sensei to rest for a period of three days until she recovered completely, ergo, making her insides boil with anger.

_Ooooooo_ she was mad.

She wasn't allowed to see her teammates for a period of three whole frickin days! She just couldn't imagine it.

Three whole entire wasteful, pitiful, hot, boring days of absolute whine and whim, laying in bed, watching tv, and the occasional getting up to have a bathroom break. Rinse and repeat.

Then she smiled, knowing all too well she had an even better idea!

Best of all, this wouldn't stop her from doing the thing she loved the most, made her the most happy, and brought joy in her soul. She had taken a liking to sketching, and better yet, daring to go onto charcoal. She loved to sketch endlessly for hours and hours in her free time, earning her the occasional glance from Neji when he asked her what she did in all her free time instead of going to go train with him at times. She had worked to keep this a secret from them for so long, that she had a perfect place to hide all her supplies, which were located right under her bed and under neath one of the wood panels in the floor.

And she was working on a particular piece for the prodigy, of a realistic drawing of a beautiful sakura tree. She knew he would love it! And she would only hope he would. Its the tree they always sat under after explicit hours upon hours of training. Usually when she would bother his intelligent mind with all her crazy questions.

One fine day though, she was so preoccupied with getting a tree branch to look as real as possible that she didn't realize someone had opened the door to her shack and come in.

Neji was completely and utterly exhausted, but still decided to come on by and see how the kunoichi was faring. Silently, as to not wake her, he opened the door with the extra key she had given him for an emergency cause, and slid in the doorway, only to shut it instantly.

Putting the key back in his pocket, he walked up into the kitchen to check if she had drank all the vitamin enriched water like she was supposed to. To his surprise, she did. He exhaled happily.

Now onto seeing how she was actually doing by herself.

Taking it step by step, he walked up the stairs, to where her lair would be, and found the door slightly open.

Neji inwardly sighed. _'That silly girl! Doesn't she know better than to stay put? I hope she hasn't run all over the city today, shes in no condition to be out of this house.'_

Taking the doorknob in his hand, he slowly pushed the door open.

Her room looked exactly as it was three days ago, nothing had changed. The curtains stayed in place, and the places of different shuriken were put on the walls to display her great power in being a kunocihi were still hanging, no doubt. He would have suspected her to polishing one of her blades this entire time she was lonely, he thought. Then he finally took a good look at her, and traveled down.

It didn't seem to quite portray or make sense however, with her grand reputation, why something so wide was instilled in her graceful yet deadly hands..

She instantly saw him, with a baffled looking of his eyes, as his very eyes were locked onto the very ethereal thing she was holding in her hand. There, in all its glory, was a sketchbook.

_'So is that why she 'has no time' to train on Saturdays!'_

The kunoichi's gaze was effortless this time.

_'Oh now its over. It totally is. I don't even have byakugan and I can tell what this white eyed jounin is thinking now_..' Tenten thought.

Neji cleared his throat and began the involuntary long stream of questions. "Umm...Tenten?"

She sighed a grand sigh of hers and instantly sat up in her bed. "Neji! Oh yeah..Neji my friend.." She cleared her throat. "I see you got home faster than I thought! How should we celebrate?"

His eyes were no deceptive matter. He decided to play along for a bit, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before his natural teasing her would give way to what lay underneath his true actions.

"Tenten, I'm actually doing quite well. Exhausted you can say, from working with no pause for three days straight."

The bag he was carrying was full of packing supplies, and unconventionally heavy, making the muscles in his arm flex, as a trail of sweat beads trickled down.

The temperature in the room suddenly raised a notch.

Smiling, he opened his mouth. "Can I-"

She stopped his sentence midway as she held her finger up. "I know what your going to ask me."

He debated on listening to her and ingeniously evaded her pause. "Tenten, do you feel better?"

She gulped. "Yes."

"And have you been taking the meds that Tsunade prescribed you?"

His deep voice, along with the fact that the last she saw of him being four days ago, certainly didn't help her more shy, girl side.

She nodded.

"Good...now, how long have you been feeling better, or should I say how long have you been one hundred percent better Tenten?"

"I've..been doing rather well..actually...er...I'm doing a heck of a lot better this morning you can say."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Well...you can say I've been feeling good since yesterday."

He crossed his arms.

"Actually...I've been extremely well, since yesterday morning?"

One of his glorious eyebrows raised, arms still crossed, muscles flexed as he suddenly got closer to her, could mean one of two things. A, your in deep schmoo, and B, you better hope I don't tell Gai Sensei about this.

A long minute passed. If there was anytime in Tentens short nineteen year old life that she hasn't sweat a lot, oh boy it would be now.

Another, somber, whole, anxiety attacked minute passed by. The clock ticking on the wall seemed like the loudest music that was ever heard.

"..."

"..."

"I...I've been a hundred percent better two nights ago! Ok? There! You have it!"

She was perfectly fine after the first day...and could've came to help him out. But what was her say in the matter going to do when Gai Sensei ordered her to stay in this shack still for three days straight? He realized he was too hard on her, and felt the sudden urge to hug her

Getting up, she grabbed the drawing she had now finished before he came in, and was soley about to leave the door, but not before he grabbed her hand first.

"Let me go Neji! I know your mad at me anyway-"

"Tenten, is this for me?" he asked, ignoring her short spat.

Her doe eyes fell to the floor, her face flushed with a cherry, pink red.

"Yeah..ano..yeah it is.." she said, eyes still locked on the wooden panels of the floor.

Taking his hand, he made her chin move slightly up so his gaze met her deep brown eyes.

"I love it Ten, I really do... Thank you." he whispered.

Then he did something he never thought he would do in a million years, or had the actual courage to do. His lips were on fire, as was his hands, that now held her arms, keeping her in place.

Bending down, his lips met hers.

…**...**

The sun was barely above the horizon now, letting the trees seem more powerful than they were.

Shadows lingered, and Neji's careful shell was soon about to crack.

There was nothing he could do for her now. Not a single damned thing. His hands suddenly clenched into fists so strong the knuckles were now a ghostly white.

Grasping a handful of sand, he crushed it with every single brutal force he had, as if he were crushing the enemy itself.

He didn't dare try and look up at her again, but he did. Her once godly eyes were now pools of grey, her buns that kept her hair in their cute style, a disarray, and her side, slashed deeply with a wound that penetrated deep enough to form a large fatal gash in her side.

Yet all he could do was sit and stare, with white eyes. White eyes open.

He lingered for what seemed like hours until the full extent of night finally came, shielding everything with a penetrating darkness.

_**I linger in the doorway**_  
_**Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name**_

He still lingered there, in her presence, as if by some chance if he stayed any longer he would be able to revive her. Revive her broken spirit.

_**Let me stay**_  
_**Where the wind will whisper to me**_  
_**Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story**_

Oh how he wished he would be able to stay there, and keep put in the very spot he was in forever and ever. He was afraid to meet the outside world ever again, but he knew within the deep confines of his heart, it would never be the same. Not without her. Her story remained forever, as was her dying breath. Deaths sting would no longer setter, it would take long for him to find the peace he once had at last.

_**In my field of paper flowers**_  
_**And candy clouds of lullaby**_  
_**I lie inside myself for hours**_  
_**And watch my purple sky fly over me**_

"Would you draw again for me...ever Tenten?" he whispered as the wind picked up a stronger force in the field he sat in with her. He would sit and ponder of the time she was there for him, even when he wasn't the nicest of creatures to be around. He'd lie and wait, for this miraculous miracle to happen that he knew deep inside was the weakest to believe. His eyes squeezed shut at the thought when he realized he had been to hard on her all the past years they had known each other. It was then he finally had the courage to believe that she was just more than a sister, and a companion, she was his soulmate.

_**Don't say I'm out of touch**_  
_**With this rampant chaos - your reality**_  
_**I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge**_  
_**The nightmare I built my own world to escape**_

He was never out of touch with her. The two were almost inseparable. Knowing each other well enough, where just a look in the others eye was enough to tell what the other was thinking, wanting, and needing at that point in time. There was no need for useless talk and flatter, now, he had only a minutes worth of time to build his own world to escape...escape his pain.

She seemed peaceful there, almost in a sleeping ecstasy, deep within her confines of barely no sunlight, and low shadows.

The wind came and bustled through his bruised and worn body, and with withering strength, he found the capability to rise himself up off the meadow and start slowly to where his love was.

Gaining anger in his stride, he picked up his step as he finally reached the dreaded tree she was so mercilessly pulverized to, and with blistered hands, he yanked the two spears from her side as fresh blood poured over his exposed arm.

Tentens body immediately fell from her position and landed gracefully in his arms. Tears swelled up in his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second to smell the lingering soft sweet floral smell of her once more, before it was gone forever. His hands, and arms now full of blood and water, he walked back to where he had sat before, and gently laid her on the ground where he once sat.

Her eyes had somehow in that time that he had taken her down, closed, and he thanked kami that he didn't have to suffer the immeasurable pain with having to take his hand and close them himself.

Her very being looked ethereal laying on the grass, as her hair was long, and strewn out from under her, long and beautiful. The clothes she had left were the ones that covered her well, over her chest and shorts, though the training gi she wore that covered her legs was gone, infinitely as was the part that covered her stomach. Her lips lay slightly ajar, and Neji lay next to her, staring, wishing he could kiss the soft skin, and somehow, some form of breath would revitalize in them.

With quivering shoulders, he lifted himself up and propped himself so he was slightly over her figure, until he reached down slowly, and formed his lips as they rested on her bruised and battered ones.

The taste was how it had always been when he kissed her, always sweet, but something lacked now, and all he could miss terribly was the return of her passion.

He dug his tongue inside the crevice of her mouth, only to taste a hint of blood, and still some of her saliva.

He was grateful for that little bit, as he stretched and wrapped his still strong arms around her, cradling the very thing that brought him joy in his life. Hair fell down his shoulders, and intermixed with her long dark brown tresses as he sat upright and held the kunochi tightly within his strong, still steel-like grip.

There would never be no more sound of her laughter, that special sparkle in her eye. Her body was so cold, it made him shiver, and he could only press her figure closer to his own body heat. Silently he rocked back and forth, and counted the slow rhythm like beats of his own heart, and his heart ached with agony as he realized how much he missed the silent beating of her own.

With silent tears falling down his cheeks, the prodigy turned around on his back, only to wince, as he felt the deep gashes in his backside sting like that of a bees. He looked down and saw the hole through his stomach and closed his eyes, knowing there was not much time.

He knew his time had been up, but death had no sting here. He would not have cared if he had died, and still suffered immeasurable pain from his enemy, but scowled with anger as they even dared to hurt the very thing he loved. And he was powerless to stop it.

But nothing mattered now. The grass was greener than it had been ever. The sky's dark blue had evaporated into light blue, and the clouds passed on as if to mentally make fun of his proposition.

Taking his hand, he reached over to grasp hers with weak strength, and slid it into her palm. His fingers slowly interlocked with her cold ones.

Her cold, lifeless, but still soft ones.

Neji turned his head slightly, but groaned in pain a bit as his eyes finally met to her figure. Her hair was sprawled on the forest floor, and her face was no longer in pain and contortion as he last saw it.

Her eyes closed, she was a vision, of pure beauty. So beautiful she was, that he would have believed she was asleep.

_'Even in death your still breathtakingly beautiful aren't you Tenten?'_

His fingers tightened in her hand, and the prodigy closed his eyes.

**...**

_**Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming**_  
_**Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights**_  
_**Oh how i long for the deep sleep dreaming**_  
_**The goddess of imaginary light**_


End file.
